Drawing at Teddington Lock

During the second focus week we continued having drawing lessons with David.  On Monday we went to Teddington Lock.  Here we looked more in depth at how objects fit together especially going into the water, for example, the footbridges and how they are constructed. We then went on to draw large sections of the lock and we put together what we had learnt.  This was a useful session and got us to look at things in more detail which we will apply to projects. 

On Thursday we went back to the lock to finish off the large section and put in the context of the lock by drawing in the background and surroundings which also gave the section a scale.

Mile End Park

It is located in the east of London.  The park has undergone a transformation at the cost of £25 million which incorporated the many separate parks; play arena, Ecology Park, Arts Park, terrace garden, Adventure Park, Sports Park and children’s park.

The first stage of the development was the green bridge and terrace garden which opened in 2001.  The park was soon after completed and opened in 2002. 
 
Terrace Garden

It is shielded from Mile End Road by a dense row of trees.  It is centred around a water cascade and fountain.  The planting of the area aimed to create a “garden of the senses”. 

 

Sports Park 

It has plans for a new swimming pool which will also be home to other indoor sports such as, squash.  The rest of the area has football, tennis and basketball courts. 

Overall, the park felt very insecure due to the CCTV cameras situated along the footpaths.  I have never experienced this before in a public park and due to this I never fully felt relaxed and escaped from city life.  However, I did like the way the park has been designed with its different zones in an elongated shape.  As you pass through the different zones they each give you another quality with the different ranges of planting and materials.  The park seemed to be poorly maintained and many areas were over grown and had a lot of litter.

 

Greenwich Wetland Park

The 4 acre fresh water park was created by English Partnerships in 2000 as part of the regeneration of the Brownfield land on the Greenwich Peninsular.  The park opened in 2002 to the public.  In the park there are 2 lakes, areas of shingle beach, marsh, meadow, wet woodland and 2 bird hides.  The site has a network of board walks giving easy access to the public.

 

However, the park is over looked by the Millennium Village which gives the impression that the park was an after thought.  This gives a poor experience of ‘being with nature’ as you can constantly see the built environment which surrounds the park.  The park has a visitor centre and I can see its value it has for young children learning about nature.  Getting to the park was not very easy and the size and the experience of the park does not justify the journey length.